Technical Field
The invention relates to conducting secure transactions. More particularly, the invention relates to conducting secure financial and informational transactions via portable smart devices.
Description of the Background Art
It is a common practice for credit or debit card transactions to be secured only by a Personal Information Number (PIN). The card number is embossed on the card and encoded on the magnetic strip, and that number is accessible to anyone who sees the card long enough to read the number, take a picture of the card, or gets the opportunity to surreptitiously swipe the card through a magnetic strip reader. The PIN is usually four digits long and if its entry is overseen by a person or a surveillance camera, it can often be associated with that card number. Anyone who obtains the card number and the PIN may fraudulently obtain access to the account. It has recently been reported that annual global fraudulent credit/debit card losses amount to an estimated US$39 billion. Accordingly, the low level of security inherent in the existing method is a significant problem.
Sometimes another layer of security is imposed, e.g. a request for the account zip code, but the basic process is the same: an open card number is secured by a PIN or other information that is presumed to be known only by the authorized user of the account. Smart cards can encrypt the account number and therefore add another layer of security by hiding the card number, but they have not been widely adopted to date, in part because to do so would require a hardware upgrade to the large number of installed card reading devices.